Marshall Monitor II A.N.C. Headphone - Black

Product Information

When working it’s an app (on iOS at least) that’s easy to use and swift to navigate. It offers the option to tweak to ANC and passthrough levels, customise the M-button function (Equaliser, Google Assistant and Siri), a choice between the Equaliser presets (or create your own) and an Auto-off timer. Battery life status can be viewed and the app will push updates over-the-air. I wore them for a few journeys on a particularly raucous stretch of the Central Line on the London Underground and was immediately clear to me that the Marshall, while reasonably effective, struggle to deaden as much of the roar and rattle of the carriages as its rivals. Even the older Bose QuietComfort 35 II are better than the Marshall Monitor II ANC.

If you do ever run out of battery you can always rely on the cable that comes with the headphones. This cable as we said previously is well-designed and it features a button for pausing and playing your music as well as taking and rejecting calls. The ANC doesn't seem to affect the sound signature when audio was playing, which is a common pitfall of wireless ANC. Generally speaking, the noise cancellation here is useful, but it's not as effective as what you get from Apple or Bose.You cannot use the USB-C port for audio but you can charge them and listen to them at the same time. The fourth-generation Major IV possess all of the style we’ve come to expect from Marshall, while more than doubling the battery life of their predecessor. They’ve also undergone a few smart design tweaks, making them an attractive option for those seeking eye-catching, on-ear cans.

The first thing to get out of the way is that the noise cancellation isn’t as good as it is on close rivals from Sony, Bose and Bowers & Wilkins. Though they're not the best headphones on the market by any means the Bluetooth Marshall Monitors are a conveniently compact over-ear option. As you'd expect they look good thanks to the iconic Marshall design and with 30 hours of battery life it's nice to have a piece of tech that won't require charging every evening. Victoria Marshall added: “With Marshall Group, the potential to further impact an ever-modernising music industry is a highly genuine one. Together, we will preserve the Marshall legacy and shape the future of ‘Live Loud’. Having worked alongside my father during his later years, I know he would be excited at this direction and the potential to reach a larger worldwide audience with innovation and passion which he always had in spades.” How we test If you're looking for reasonably priced over-ear headphones with a long battery life and genuinely great portability the Marshall Monitors are a solid choice. We wouldn't, however, call them the only choice.

How do you control the Marshall Monitor II ANC?

Another annoyance is that despite the fact that it looks great, the cable that you use to connect your phone when the headphones run out of battery doesn't have volume control. This is an inconvenient oversight, particularly as the control knob on the headphones themselves doesn't work when they're out of battery. Final Verdict Marshall’s most obvious competitor in the headphone market is JBL, a brand which also comes with considerable live music credibility. JBL offers a comparable mix of headphone styles, but somehow the Marshall design just feels a little more granular – they get you closer to the stage. Who owns Marshall Amplification?